How New York gov. Andrew Cuomo is fighting for political survival

Political operatives and pollsters said the Democratic governor’s strategy—including appearances with civil-rights leaders in New York City and on Long Island—is working for now, but they questioned how long it can be sustained.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is overseeing an investigation into the harassment allegations by current and former aides to the governor and is expected to issue a report on its findings later this year. Democrats, who control the state Assembly, are investigating the harassment allegations as well as the state’s delayed release of a full tally of Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes.

Federal prosecutors based in Brooklyn have requested data about nursing- home deaths and are interested in other state policies related to the facilities, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Mr. Cuomo and his attorneys have said they are cooperating with all of the probes. The governor has said he never touched anybody inappropriately and has apologized if his behavior made anybody uncomfortable. During a Wednesday press call, he said he wouldn’t answer questions while the probes are pending.

“I have a job to do," Mr. Cuomo said.

Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, said Friday the administration is focused on expanding New York’s vaccination program and enacting a state budget.

At an event Wednesday, the governor appeared at a Baptist church in Manhattan’s historically Black Harlem neighborhood to receive a coronavirus vaccine. He was praised by Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, and retired Democratic U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel.

Mr. Rangel said Mr. Cuomo’s critics were piling on, but that “due process and a hearing is basically what we believe in in this country."

This backdrop was intentional, political operatives said. A poll released last week by the Siena College Research Institute found that 50% of 804 New York voters surveyed didn’t believe the governor should immediately resign from office. Among Black voters, 69% said the governor shouldn’t step down.

“Politically, he’s wounded but not dead," said poll spokesman Steven Greenberg. Significantly, Mr. Greenberg noted, the percentage of Democrats who said they were prepared to re-elect Mr. Cuomo in 2022 had decreased to 46% in March from 65% in February.

Black voters typically account for just under a quarter of the electorate in a statewide Democratic primary, and Mr. Cuomo carried them by large margins during his respective 2014 and 2018 primary victories over Zephyr Teachout and Cynthia Nixon, who are white.

In 2002, days before the Democratic primary for governor, Mr. Cuomo exited the race after polls showed him with little chance of defeating then-Comptroller H. Carl McCall, who is black.

On Thursday, Mr. Cuomo was flanked by New York Yankees and Mets officials when he announced that fans would be able to attend the teams’ home games when their season starts next month. The event was closed to the press, but the news it generated was printed on the front page of the New York Daily News and Newsday.

Bradley Tusk, founder of political consulting firm Tusk Strategies, said the baseball announcement was deliberate.

“The governor has to buy as much time as he possibly can—both to slow the momentum of the attacks against him and to show the public that he’s doing other things," he said. “The more that normalcy returns, the more he is not swarmed by scandal."

Peter Kauffmann, a communications consultant who advised Mr. Cuomo’s first two gubernatorial campaigns, said this strategy was modeled after President Bill Clinton’s response to the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the 1990s. Mr. Cuomo served as the housing secretary in Mr. Clinton’s cabinet, and Mr. Kauffmann worked for the Democratic National Committee press office during Mr. Clinton’s impeachment.

“The problem with his current crisis strategy is that it’s 2021—not 1998, and Andrew Cuomo is not Bill Clinton," Mr. Kauffmann said, referring to changing cultural norms and the men’s relative charisma.

Mr. Tusk said Ms. James’s investigation posed a significant risk for Mr. Cuomo, and that his remaining support among lawmakers could evaporate if it confirmed the allegations.

Charlie King, who ran for lieutenant governor alongside Mr. Cuomo in 2002 and remains an informal adviser to the governor, agreed the investigation’s findings would be important.

“You have to look at the totality of all facts when they come out and see what people’s reactions are then," Mr. King said.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.